Radioreception



Feb- 11, 1930. E. WASHINGTON ET Ax. 1,746,689

RADIORECEPTION filed April 2. 1927 zsneets-sneer 1 Q N x $1 will 1 a uw14 k3 kmo n *i k l PoRTALE 60A/mm 50x *TTORNEY 'Fh 11, l1930- B.WASHINGTON ET Al. 1,746,689

RADIOREGEPTION l Filed April 2. 192'? 2 sheets-sheen 2 #mq a? A L1 Y 455 w1 E N\ k Q k u w E /N Qi )s am Patel1tecl l"eb.` 11, 1930.

UNITED STATES BOWDEN- WASHINGTON, OF NEW YORK, AND WILSON AULL, JB., OFASTORIA, NEW

YORK, ASSIGNORS'TO REMOTROLE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION N EW YORKml'monncnrrrlon v Application filed april 2, 1927.v serial No. 1:30am'.V

. The modern broadcast receiver as itsquality is improved is becomingheavier and larger and less portable particularly if the'batteries arenot self-contained and an'outdoor'antenna and ground are used. It isextremely slinple to run an extension cord for the loud speaker from theroom containing the radio receiver to any other room in the house or thehouse may be .easily supplied with built-in wiring for this purpose. Itis not so simple, however, to employ built-in or flexible wiring tocontrol the tuning and volume ofsuch receiver from -a distance.

Oneobject of our invention is to produce a radio receiving system whichwill enable substantially any broadcast lreceiver to respond to anydesired signal which vmay be collected by the antenna, and which iswithin the irequency band of the system, and to have lts volume, as wellas the frequency received, regulated from alsmall control unit located ashort distance away with no physical connections such as cables, wires,etc. between the two.

Another obj'ectof our invntionis to produce a system which may be usedin conjunction with substantially any modern radio receiver nomatterwhat its Jfrequency range may be, and cause said receiver to beremote con- 30 trolled both as to volume and'wave length over its own orany other desired frequency band without mechanical movement of anyparts within the receiver.

duce a system which will convert any. re'- Another'object ofourinvention is to procouplingv system, for producing Va field whichinfluences the control unit.

In our invention the control unit which may be made small, lightandreadily port.

able, need have no exterior connections an may be completelyself-contained. In other words, lnents may be all within the portablecontrol member, or its power supply may be obtained from the alternatingcurrent house llines by means of the usual flexible cord and Iplug. Thisbox may be taken into the dining room, sun porch, or any other part ofthe llouse or apartment and both the frequency l'ecelved and the volumeof the sound output its power source and its control ele-1 may be simplyand easily controlled from a distance by means of this box. y

Fig. 1 of the drawings shows diagrammatically one embodiment of ourinvention in conjunction with a broadcast receiver.

Fig. 2 is a schematic wiring diagram Aof one form of control circuit.

a Fig. 3 shows our invention in conjunction with a receiverespeciallyniade to coact'therewith. v.

Fig. 4 is a schematicwirino diagram of .one simple form of converteremtbodying a bandpass amplifier which can be used as a part of oursystem.

, The antenna 5 and ground 6 may be ofpany suitable type. 7 is aband-pass converter-amplifier of any suitable construction covering thedesired range .of frequencies, as for instance 550 to 1500 k. c. Anuntuned radiator or coupler 8 may be a loop or coupling coil of moderatesize connected in the plate circuit of the last tube of the band-passamplifier 7. The transformers may be so proportioned or variously peakedas to amplify frequencies within the desired band'. i

9 -represents the; portable control box or 'unit having'pickmp or inputmeans such as the loop or coil 10, a regenerative detector 19 a tuningcontrol 11, a volume control -12 and suitable batteries20 and 21. Thisdetector modulates a flxed frequency oscillator 23 having radiating oroutput coupling means such as the loop or coil 13.

The receiver 14- hich-may be vof any suitable type (or maybe builttorespond to a fier 7 and and vice versa.

fixed frequency) is provided with a wave interception or coupling devicesuch as the loop or coil 15 and its associated condenser 16. The loop 15and the condenser 16 maybe so proportioned as to have the capacity andthe inductance of an average broadcast receiver antenna. If used with anadjustable broadcast receiver this is particularly important inuni-control receivers. The out-put of the receiver is connected in theusual manner to an reproducer such as the loud speaker 17.

nder ordinary conditions of use 8 and 13 may be considered respectivelyas primaries of very loosely coupled transformers whose secondaries are10 and 15.

In operation, the antenna system consisting of the antenna 5 and theground 6 and their associated circuits picks up all signals withinrange. These signals are substantially uniformly amplified by theband-pass ampliradiated from or coupled by the untuned radiator orcoupler 8. Then by means `of the tuning adjustment 11 of theregenerative detector 19 any one of these relayed signals ma be chosen.The intensity of the out-put o said detector may be regulated by thecontrol 12 as a regeneration control or this control 12 may change theintensity of radiation of the fixed wave length oscillator, or' theintensity may be controlled by both the regeneration of the modulatingdetector and the plate voltage of the oscillator by placing thefeed-back coil of the detector and a non-inductive variable resistor inthe plate circuit of the oscillator on `the same shaft, as shown at 12,Fig. 2, thus varying both the strength of oscillation and the strengthof modulation.

The oscillator contained in the portable control box 9 may be ad'ustedto any wave length within the range o the receiver 14 and the receiver14 is adjusted to receive the same frequency as the output of thecontrol box.

It should be understood that the fixed frequency field which is in partcommon to the loops or other coupling means 13 and 15 may be changed asto frequency and then fixed, so that if two of these receivers are inuse close together an adjustment. may be made so that A s control unitwill not operate Bs receiver It should also be understood that thebandpass amplifier 7 may be made sufficiently powerful so that anapartment house or locality could be equipped with one of these devicesand anyone wlthin a predetermined range would need only a control box 9and a receiver 14 (Fig. 3). A

The frequency chosen for the oscillator within the control box and forthe resonant fre uenc7 of the receiver 14 (or 14') may pre erab y beeither below or above the desired band, or a .frequency differing fromthe frequencies of any Station-or stations effective or Within range ofsaid receiver in con- The band-pass amplifier 7 and its radiat.

means 8 form an amplifying ing or couplin re a or all signals with itsrange.

y-station One of these signals is chosen by the control l 11 of controlbox 9 and re-radiated or coupled at a fixed frequency by the radiatingor couplings means 13 which' is associated with the tuning control 11 ofthe pick-up device 10. The intensity of this radiation may be regulatedby the knob 12 which may control the regeneration of the detector or theplate voltage of the oscillator or the intensity may be controlled byany other lsuitable means. The signal is then coupled by the couplingmeans 13 to the receiving means 15 ata fixed wave length and is thenfurther amplified, detected and re-ampliied at audio frequencies b thereceiver 14 or 14.

It s ould be understood that the field produced by the coupling means 13may be adjusted to any desired frequency, for instance to excite a longwave Navy type receiver, used at 14. This receiver might have afrequency` alsr range of 100 kilocycles to 15 kilocycles. A

point near its point of best response may be chosen but this pointshould not be in resonance with an nearby transmitter and the oscillatorassoc1ated with the radiator 13 may be adjusted to this frequency. Thereceiver 14 may be a short wave receiver in which case the radiationfrom the control box would be adjusted to a frequency suitable for thistype. In other Words, our system provides a means for convertingsubstantially any moderately sensitive receiver into a uni-controland/or remote-control receiver operating over the broadcast band offrequencies or any other band desired.

It should also be understood that the control element 9 for certainpurposes may be made sufficiently sensitive so that it can pick upoutside signals itself in which case we could dis ense with the elements5, 6, 7 and 8.

One adilantage of our system over devices equipped with motors to trolreceiver, said motors having stop, start and reversing switches providedwith a cord, is the fact that the dial 11 of our control box 9 may becalibrated to read directly in frequency, Wave length or other suitableunits, which has not so far been achieved, we believe, with the Imotortype.

In` Big. 3 is shown diagrammatically anotherembodiment of our inventionwhich is similar `to vthat just described except for the fact that thereceiver 14 may be a fixed frequency receiver having no tuningcondensers or controls except that of the receiving memer 15 which isthen locked and no controls except a filament switch 18. receiver usingfixed interstage transformers may be manufactured at actuate a singleconadjusted once and for all and gether with the band amplifier 7 andcontrol 9 constitute the elements necessary to produce a remote controland sin le control receiver at aprice comparable with that of anordinary modern hi h grade receiver.

WeV do not wis to limit ourselves to regeneration as a method ofsensitizing the receiving means of the control'. box 9, as any othersuitable system of equal or greater sensitivity' may be substitutedwithout departing from' the spirit of our invention.

The band amplifier-converter l'7 according to current practice wouldcontain the usual radido frequency amplifier tubes and filters. Thecontrol unit9 would comprise suitable detector and oscillator tubesarranged in any suitable circuit suiciently sensitive. The reproducerunit 14 may .f contain an number of radio frequency amplifier stages, adetector and audio stages of amplification arranged according to anysuitable receiving circuit. It is presumed that suitable vacuum tubeswill be used. v

One type of installation would consist of `(a) an amplifier-converterlocated where most convenient for antenna and ground connection o1 powersupply, (b) the reproducer or receiver proper, with its loud speakerlocated where the reproduction is most desired, (c) the control unitlocated at the point, from be controlled at a distance ordinarily of say5 to 50 feet, a`

fractionl of a'wave length. A plurality of control units might beprovided atdifferent points. The reproducer unit might, of course, beladjusted to, respond to the frequency of any one of several differentcontrol oscillators. Y Y,

Another type of installation might consist of a combinationamplifier-converter and reproducer unit together with a portable orremote control unit. i

According to our system considered as a whole, it will beseen that thefrequency selection can be eiectedby the simple adjustment of a singlecontrol dial or drum 11 which actuates or adjusts aV single tuningelement, such as a condenser (Fig. 2). The only other adjustable elementordinarily required would be the volume ncontrol by means of knob 12.

It thus becomes unnecessary to accurately match several adjustabletuning elementsas in the usual single control sets which attemptedmatching is not only difficult and expensive but fre uentlyunsatisfactory.

It should be understood, however, that the invention in its broadestaspect is not limited to details except as the are set forth in theclaims or required by t e prior art.v

We claim:

1. A household radio receiving system comprising a band amplifier forreceiving and simultaneously amplifying signals of widely varyingfrequencies, an aperiodic collecting means for' said band'ampliier, anuntuned\,

suitable radiator for said amplifier, a control unit separate andportable Aindependently of the.

band amplifier and comprising a detector hav ing a collecting circuittunable over the band of the amplifier, an-oscillator modulated by therectified selected signal frequency and having an output tuned to apredetermined frequency and a receiver separate from the control unitoscillator.

which comprises receiving and ampli ing without change of frequency, allsignals of various frequencies within a broadcast band, radiating saidamplified signals, collecting, selecting and demodulating the signal ofthe desired frequency at a point a short distance away from theamplifier, impressing said demodulated signal uponoscillations of apredetermined frequenc collecting the said signal of redermine frequencyat another point an amplifying, demodulating and converting said signalinto sound energy.

3. A radio receiving system comprising an untuned signal collectorassociated with the input of a multi-stage band amplifier capable ofamplifying alarge band of frequencies without change of frequency butwith appropriate change of hase so as to prevent overall regeneration oregeneration, a radiating device associated directly with the output ofsaid band amplifier, a control unit independ-v ent of the band amplifierand portable and havin a selective collectdi` for selecting the desiresignal from said radiatin device, a demodulator associated with sai anoscillator of predetermined frequency diftuned to the frequency of the2. A method of household radido recepytion ferent from the frequency ofthe received sigpass amplifying mesh adapted to simultaneousl recelveand amplify all signals within a pre etermined band with substantialuniformlty and to retransmit said signals un changed in frequency ormodulation, a mechanically separate manually portable con trol unitadapted to select any desired retransmitted signal, demodulate it andfurther.

transmit its modulations on a predetermined frequency different fromlthe frequency of the receivedsignal's, and a receiverseparate anddistant from the control unit resonant to said predetermined frequencand includmg audiq amplifying and repro ucing means, said receiver being1n itself substantially unresponsive to signals of normal fieldstrength. t

5. A household radio receiving s stem com-v i prising a Aband passamplifying vli ter having an output device and adapted to simultanetrolunit, means for detecting the received sigously broadcast a shortdistance signal of vaf nal, audio amplifying means and means for riousfrequencies, a reproducing receiver subconvertmg the ampli ed lmpulsesinto sound. stantially insensitive to the normal broadcast BOW ENWASHINGTON.

signals and a se erste, readily portable control unit v.,shortdistancefrom said filter and reproducing receiver and having a selective fieldcollector loosely' coupled WILSON AULL, JR.

v with the output of the lter for selecting any desired signal frequencyfrom said amplifying filter, means for demodulating the selected signal,an oscillator modulated by said demodulator and means for looselycoupling said oscillator with said reproducing receiver; 6. A radioreceivin system comprising a band ass amplifying lter having means forinitially receiving and amplifying various waves and producing anelectric eld of the same frequencies as'the received signals, aseparately rtable control unit havin a selective fiel collector forselectin a esired frequency, a demodulator ail'ecte by the selectedfrequencies, an ,oscillator modulated by the demodulator and roducing anelectric field of a redetermineiio frequency differing from therequencies of the received signals, and a reproducer se arate from thecontrol unit and having a eld collector responsive to the field producedby the oscillator and including a detector and an associated loudspeaker.

7. A System of household broadcast reception comprising an energycollector, a band pass amplifier provided with a eld produclng means, aportable control unit loosely coupled therewith and havino' a singlecontrol demodulator and an oscillator modulated thereb and a multi-stageamplifying receiver loosely coupled with the oscillator, said controlunit being mechanically independent of the band ass amplifier andthemulti-sta'ge receiver an ortable independently thereof. 8. A portablecontrol unit for radio receivers comprising a tunable pick-up system forreceiving signals within a broad band of frequencies, means forselecting signals of the desired frequency, am lifying means associatedtherewith, means or changing the frequency of the selected si nal to apredetermined fixed fre uency andr a radiating output system there rom.

' 9. A household receiving set comprising radio frequency am lifyingcontrol and reproducing units, sai control unit being separate, distinctand rtable 4with respect to the other units, sai radio frequencyamplifying unit including pick-up means and means for am lifyin allbroadcast signals within a broad and o frequencies and means fortransmitting the amplified signals to said control unit, said controlumt including means for receiving and selecting the signal nf desiredfrequency and transmitting means, saidreproducmg unit including meansfor receivmg the signal transmitted .from the con-

